Description

A slightly modified version of Kripparrian's Wand Templar build. It is extremely weak in the beginning levels, but can be very powerful later on.

Suggested Leagues: Default, Hardcore

Passive Skills

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• Step 1: Follow this path directly as you level. If the main path branches off, follow it in that order.
• Step 2: Get Eldritch Battery.
• Step 3: Time to increase our damage. If you haven't already, you can start using wands now.
• Final Build: Take these nodes in any order to suit your needs. Prioritize increases to Maximum Power Charges. Swap out nodes for +30 Dexterity nodes as needed.

Gems

Single-Target Attack - do not level Power Siphon past 5!

Power Siphon
Faster Attacks
Weapon Elemental Damage
Increased Critical Damage

AoE Attack - do not level Power Siphon past 5! (Additional Accuracy is optional)

Power Siphon
Chain
Weapon Elemental Damage
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Life Leech
Additional Accuracy

Skeleton Totem

Summon Skeletons
Spell Totem
Faster Casting

Elemental Weakness - most effective curse for this build. Enduring Cry is optional if you need the extra survivability

Elemental Weakness
Faster Casting
Enduring Cry

Auras - keep these leveled up, as switching them out will allow you to survive in virtually any map

Determination
Discipline
Grace
Reduced Mana

Auras - same rules apply as stated above

Clarity
Haste
Anger
Reduced Mana

Get 2 Brightbeaks for your weapon swap and put these gems in one of them. This will give you super fast Leap Slam for traveling or escaping danger. Also place any auras you aren't using in these sockets

Leap Slam
Faster Attacks

Flasks

Flask Set 1

Life Flask
Life Flask
Granite Flask
Granite Flask
Quicksilver Flask

Bandits

Help Oak in Normal Difficulty - Rewards +40 to Maximum Life
Kill all the bandits in Cruel Difficulty - Rewards 1 Passive Skill Point
Help Alira in Merciless Difficulty - Rewards +1 to Maximum Power Charge

Gear

Wand

Ignore the Physical Damage and Increased Spell Damage component of wands, because these stats are useless for an Elemental Wand Templar. Instead, search for high Elemental Damage, with preference given to Lightning Damage. Secondary stats to consider are increased critical strike chance, increased attack speed, accuracy, and increased critical damage. These stats can make a wand very expensive, but this is the most important component of your damage so it's worth the investment.

Shield

A good shield gives a high increase to maximum life (over 80 is preferable), high increases to all resistances (over 30%), and high armour. You can also get some energy shield increases if you need the additional mana.

Chest Armor

Your chest armor absolutely requires 5 linked sockets (RRGGB) to hold the gems necessary for your AoE Power Siphon attack. If you are rich/lucky enough to afford a 6 linked socket socket chest armor piece, go for it. This is your top priority.

Helmet

Not much to say about the helmet. Focus on armour, maximum life, and resistances.

Gloves

Search for maximum life, added lightning damage, and over 10% increased attack speed.

Boots

If you have a few Exalted Orbs to spare, buy yourself a pair of Wake of Destruction boots. They give 1-120 added lightning damage, +17 mana when you kill an enemy, and a 10% chance to cause monsters to flee. The only flaw is that you'll move really, really slowly until you level up your Haste gem. The lack of mobility is solved with Leap Slam and your Quicksilver Flask, but if this isn't what you want, then find some rare boots and focus on the traditional stats of maximum life, resistances, and movement speed.

Belt

Find maximum life and "% increased elemental damage with weapons". This will be a huge boost to your DPS.

Jewelery

Try to find jewelery with maximum life, added elemental damage, resistances, accuracy, and any stats you need to wear your other gear. Jewelery can roll the highest added elemental damage of any item in the game aside from your weapon, so this is going to be a massive source of damage.

Dual Brightbeaks

As mentioned in the Gems section, it would be a good idea to get two Brightbeak War Hammers for your weapon swap. Put a Leap Slam gem and Faster Attacks gem in one of these hammers, and you'll be able to rapidly leap across an entire map or over a ledge to minimize downtime. The reason we choose the Brightbeak is because it has the highest increased attack speed modifier in the game, and having two of them makes it even more ridiculous.

Flasks

Your first Life Flask should give you instant healing. This will give you a panic button in case you are taking too much damage. The second Life Flask should give you life over time, preferably with a "% increased life recovered" modifier.

Your first Granite Flask should have the "% increased armour during flask effect" modifier, as this will make your defenses nearly impenetrable throughout its duration. The second Granite Flask can have modifiers to suit your needs, but I prefer to have "additional elemental resistances during flask effect".

Your Quicksilver Flask should have the "increased movement speed during flask effect" modifier.

All five flasks should have the modifier "recharges 1 charge when you deal a critical strike". This build has a very high critical strike rate, so with this modifier, you'll have nearly infinite flask charges.

Guide

Preface

This build is based on Kripparrian's original Wand Templar build. I have thoroughly tested this build with my own modifications, and my Wand Templar is currently level 80. For those of you familiar with his guide, here is a list of the main differences:

• Instead of using a melee weapon in the earlier levels, this build uses spells (primarily Ice Nova). I have found this to be much easier than melee.
• Freed up two skill points near the beginning of the Templar tree - they are better spent elsewhere.
• Includes a build for 120 skill points, since many people were unsure of where to spend their points after getting Static Blows.
• Optimized a few paths to make it easier to reach more useful nodes.

This build is very difficult to use in the lower levels, mostly because the passive skills are only useful for wands. However, wands are way too weak in the early levels, so you're stuck in an awkward stage. Rest assured, it gets better. Your focus during the early levels is to make use of whatever items you have at your disposal and simply survive until around level 45 when you switch to using wands.

At higher levels, you'll have two attacks: a single-target Power Siphon and an area-of-effect Power Siphon. These attacks will be supported by as many as 7 different auras, granting you very high survivability and damage. I know it sounds boring to use only one attack skill throughout the entire end-game, but trust me, it's not.

Normal Difficulty

After killing Hillock, pick the Ice Nova gem and try to find a good shield soon after. You should try to find gear that increases your survivability, not damage, as Ice Nova forces you to take some hits. Simply run into the middle of a pack of mobs and spam Ice Nova. Everything should die in 2-3 hits, and you'll get massive experience points. This is the fastest way to level your Wand Templar during the early levels. If you happen to find Molten Shell, it has great synergy with Ice Nova so you can use that too. Get a Clarity gem as soon as possible so you can keep a fresh stock of mana. At level 27 you can start using Granite Flasks which will make you pretty much immune to physical damage at such a low level. At level 31, try to create your Summon Skeletons Totem (Summon Skeletons gem + Spell Totem gem) which will soak up most of the damage you'd normally take.

If you find yourself having trouble, it might be a good idea to party with other players, especially if you're playing in the hardcore league.

Cruel Difficulty

This is probably the hardest part of leveling a Wand Templar. Ice Nova's effectiveness begins to wane, and it's no longer a good idea to take too many hits. It's best to kite your way through Cruel difficulty using a projectile-based spell such as Ice Spear, which should do decent enough damage by now due to your passive skills. The easiest way to get through Cruel is to group with other players until you get Eldritch Battery. At that point, you'll have plenty of mana to use at least 3-4 auras, so you can comfortably switch to using wands with the Power Siphon skill. Your damage will still be a little low, but with Lesser/Greater Multiple Projectiles + Chain, mobs should fall quickly. It only gets better from here.

Merciless Difficulty

In the beginning areas of Merciless, mobs will hit insanely hard since your survivability is still pretty low. Kiting is your friend, and you still might need to group with other players at this point. Once you reach Fellshrine ruins in Act 2, you should have no problem leveling solo from here on out. Once you are around level 58, start working on Act 3. Once you reach The Docks, grind there until level 70. You might need a group, especially if your Fire Resistance is too low to take a beating from those blue flame dogs. At this point, you should be causing enough critical hits to have nearly infinite flask charges (assuming you obtained the flasks I suggested earlier), so use them to your advantage.

Maps

Now would be a great time to start looking for end-game gear. Spend as much currency as you can afford on a 5L or 6L chest armor, along with a good wand and shield. Everything else is secondary. While you were farming the docks, you probably found at least 5 maps, so once you're comfortable with your gear (preferably at least 1500 DPS for single targets, unbuffed), start running maps. Pay close attention to the map mods and decide which auras to use accordingly. For example, if the map lowers your elemental resistances, make sure you're using Purity. If the map causes chaos damage over time, counter it with Vitality. Play smart, and you should have no problems at all.

End-Game Playstyle and Tactics

This build is fairly straightforward to play. First, activate the necessary auras to fit the situation (particularly on maps). Use your AoE attack to quickly clear out dense packs of normal/magic mobs, and use your single-target attack to kill rares and bosses. You'll never have enough survivability to stand there and tank too many hits, so make sure you learn how to kite properly. Against anything other than normal mobs, use Elemental Weakness to greatly enhance your damage. If you need some extra survivability at any point, use Enduring Cry. Use your Skeleton Totem to strategically block incoming projectiles and to provide a meat shield if you're having a hard time with a particular pack of mobs. If you can't avoid getting hit (such as by fast archers), make sure to use your Granite Flask along with your heal-over-time Life Flask to bolster your survivability.

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